While Viola was shocked by the revelation of that woman's cultivation realm, Attendant Rue's heart was pounding at the prospect of being forced to stay behind with Leonardo.
Leonardo said, "Since you want to come over and apologize, how about you do so by taking that woman away for a spin through Skyflare City? Honestly, her presence is quite annoying if she thinks I couldn't see through her hidden motives."
Viola was taken aback, she had all but forgotten about the purpose of today's visit; the apology. Since her conversation with Leonardo went so smoothly, she had been under the impression that he no longer cared about that brief conflict.
In fact, Leonardo really didn't care about that conflict but if he could plant a personal node of information by Viola's side, obviously through using Attendant Rue, he would go for it.
Viola looked at Attendant Rue. "Are you okay if I left you here by yourself? Attendant Ye might not kill or torture you for whatever happened the earlier day, but…"
Attendant Rue shook her head. "I'll be fine, my lady! I've already recognized the difference in status between Brother Ye and myself, I won't be making this difficult."
Guilt nibbled away at Attendant Rue's heart even as she spouted such nonsense. She was very curious about that marvelous sensation, but she couldn't make her intentions clear to either Leonardo or Viola, lest they think she had lost her mind.
Nonetheless, she was very certain that this had something to do with Leonardo's weird constitution— no contact with any other cultivator had given her this feeling in the past. While Viola might be oblivious to Attendant Rue's thoughts, the same couldn't be said about Leonardo.
With the attendant's approval, Leonardo dissipated the barrier simultaneously as Viola dissipated hers, leaving the woman in the dark about how useless her isolation would have been.
Those listening from the dark heard Viola bidding farewell to Leonardo, while the latter called out for the maidservant.
With bright, rainbow eyes, the maidservant approached from the shadows of a towering hill even as she maintained her cold yet elegant expression.
She bowed respectfully. "Yes, Attendant Ye?"
Leonardo gestured with his chin. "Lady Viola here is very interested in my Ye Estate and the Skyflare City, but since I'm also a stranger to this city, I've assigned you to take our guests around."
By saying guests, he also included Viola's entourage save for Attendant Rue who stood unmoving behind Leonardo.
Viola's cousin, who went by the name Westly, felt a bit unnerved as he said, "Attendant Ye, I would also like to have a private conversation with your respected self."
Leonardo looked over. "Maybe some other time, I have a bit of a headache and would like to enjoy a massage to my temples at the moment; undisturbed."
Even as he spoke, he leaned back into the chair with closed eyes. Attendant Rue was lost for a moment before she understood the signal. With a cough, she brought her cold and slender fingers to rest on Leonardo's temples before she started kneading gently.
The maidservant's colorful eyes flashed coldly, but she quickly hid it away and bowed. "As you wish, Attendant Ye."
Viola gave Attendant Rue's weird expression an odd look as she wondered to herself; could this be Attendant Rue's first time touching a man this intimately?
Westly could only grit his teeth in distress, sigh, and turn around to follow Viola who had already started walking away. As for the rest of the procession, as much as they wanted to inquire about the details of the conversation for one reason or another, no one dared speak up.
Ultimately, it was only Leonardo and Attendant Rue who were left in the expanse of greenery and hills.
Attendant Rue's expression was getter weirder by the passing second until finally, despite her attempts, a soft yet suppressed moan left her lips.
Shocked, she covered her mouth. "I… I don't know what happened to me; I apologize…"
Leonardo acted as though nothing weird happened, but this only made Attendant Rue feel worse as embarrassment riddled her red face.
Leonardo sighed. "No need, I'm already used to such reactions. You're nothing special."
Attendant Rue's eyes widened. "So it really is something wrong with your body, not mine!"
However, as soon as she said these words, she clasped her mouth and almost cursed herself. Leonardo wasn't surprised, this little miss was terrible at keeping her emotions in check; she couldn't hide her heart no matter what.
Honestly, he was surprised someone like her managed to reach such heights in cultivation. Then again, she had a completely different air about her when she was using her ancient string instruments, like a split personality resonating with the laws of sound, music, and harmony.
Leonardo didn't mind. Instead, he sighed and spoke in a light tone, "Yeah— it's very problematic sometimes, the sensation could drive some people into a severe addiction."
As he spoke, Leonardo reached over for a glass of spiritual fruit juice while adding, "Now that you've figured this out with your endless wisdom, what do you plan on doing?"
Attendant Rue was at a loss for words. She can't possibly run after her lady now, right? Moreover, since she had already figured out the root of the issue with that weird sensation, it truly felt as though there was nothing left to do.
"Wait!" Attendant Rue suddenly exclaimed. "What do you mean by addiction? Didn't I just stop myself?"
Leonardo opened his eyes and gave her a long look, muttering to himself and responding, "Yeah, your mental fortitude is quite astounding. Then, you go prepare the bathing chambers for me, it's been rough the last few days."
Attendant Rue thought Leonardo would say something along the lines of: "Should we put that to the test?", never had she anticipated he'd simply agree and praise her while at it. Suddenly, and for no obvious reason, she felt upset.
With a grumble, she turned around and disappeared in the direction of the Ye Manor. Although it was large, she could sweep it with her spiritual sense and immediately figure out the layout of the rooms, finding Leonardo's massive bedroom and attached bathing chambers.
For some reason, she felt Leonardo's acknowledgment to be no more than sarcasm, as though he didn't take her words seriously. Even though that numbing sensation felt good— it wasn't to the point of severe addiction.
That man is too full of himself— he's not even that handsome.
Leonardo shook his head and stood up, a teasing smile slowly fading from his face as solemnity overcame his expression.
He hadn't expected to get the chance to revisit the Exiled Paradise so quickly. He still remembered his first Master, the Immortal Sword King.
That person mentioned being close friends with the first-generation ancestor of House Hestia, and he often referred to the man as a male. However, according to Rosaline, the first generation was a female with the name Hestia, hence the name of the house.
This all would have sounded nonsensical if Leonardo hadn't learned about Hosue Hestia's connection to the Blood Sovereign from the Three Sovereigns and Seven Progenitor.
Adding that to the fact the Exiled Paradise could even affect cultivators in the 8th-tier, Leonardo truly wondered if the first ancestor in his Master's mouth was someone from a different plane, and if this Immortal Sword King had been locked in the Exiled Paradise long before it appeared in the stellar world.
Another topic of concern would be his inadequate understanding of the desolate martial intent; it couldn't come close to his understanding of his innate martial intent, bloodthirsty martial intent, and the heavenly retribution thunderforce.
He had his bloodline for the first martial intent, he had processed Rosaline's body of laws as it was nurtured inside his soul pearl, and he could always comprehend the laws of heavenly retribution from his tribulations. As for the desolate martial intent, he could only rely on the Exiled Paradise.
If he wanted to advance to the singularity realm, the 7th-tier, he must compress all four of his martial intents and the laws within his body of law into a point of singularity. Any imbalance in the process would destroy his star core.
Those with a singular martial intent had it easier, and those with duality had things a bit more complicated, just like Emily who was stuck in the singularity realm for thousands of years due to the instability in her foundation and fusion of martial intents.
No one in these thousands of years had been able to achieve singularity with a trinity of martial intents, let alone four of them.
Leonardo wanted to achieve a perfect fusion with his advancement into the 7th-tier in preparation for the leap from the 9th-tier Star Lord to the realm of Unity in the future.
No matter how many laws or martial intents someone comprehended from the first tier to the last tier in their star cycle cultivation, it would all eventually come down to the process of Unity between man and heaven.
According to City Lord Huang, the realm of Unity represented a man growing not a star, but a Star Field inside their body of law by merging the star core into their sea of consciousness, allowing the fusion between law, body, and spirit…
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶